The Department of Asian American Studies (formerly the Interdisciplinary Studies Program, since 1991) offers an undergraduate major, minor, and a graduate emphasis in Asian American Studies. Faculty with interdisciplinary expertise in Asian American Studies also have affiliations with departments in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences, Social Ecology and Arts. The Department offers more than thirty courses annually with an enrollment of over two thousand students. Strong student interest is demonstrated in large enrollments in diverse courses such as Asian American Film and Video, Asian American Women, Asian American Literature, Politics of Protest, Asian American Labor, Vietnamese American Experience, Chinatowns in American Society, Ethnic Food and Ethnic Identity, Asian American Race Relations, among others.

There are several distinctive on-campus resources that the Department benefits from such as the Cross-Cultural Center, which hosts speakers and events with a multicultural emphasis. In addition to the UCI Library's general collection of Asian American Studies books, videos and other materials, its Special Collection features the Southeast Asian Archive, which offers resources on the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian communities in California and throughout the United States. The Asian American Academic Theme House provides a community-oriented living space for undergraduates and is part of the Arroyo Vista Housing Complex at UCI. The residents of the Theme House plan activities and community projects related to Asian American issues.

As a public university with a large Asian American and Asian immigrant student population, the Department of Asian American Studies has unique demographic advantages. The campus’s easy proximity to Asian American ethnic communities in the Orange County and Los Angeles area avails students to exciting learning experiences beyond the classrooms.